The development of metal nanoparticles is an active area of research academically and commercially due to their novel properties and low temperature processability. The capability of making highly conductive traces and films at low temperatures is of enormous commercial interest to the electronics industry. The economic feasibility of making devices such as RFID tags, flexible displays based on organic light emitting polymers, and solar cells rely on the ability to economically print materials capable of obtaining high conductivity at temperatures of 100° C. or lower on inexpensive substrates. Because of their size, nanoparticles can be manipulated into smaller devices and low temperature processing (sintering) allows less expensive substrate to be used. However, metallic nanoparticles are inherently unstable due to their size and activity. The particles tend to irreversibly agglomerate in both dry and dispersed states. Methods to produce large quantities of metallic nanoparticles are disclosed.